Fostering Critical Thinking and Science Literacy Skills of Biology Students through Inquiry and Problems Based Learning

Despite the advancement of scientific literacy and critical thinking within the context of biological education in Indonesia, students’ competencies in these domains remain markedly deficient. The students find difficulties connecting the biological concepts in solving the problems they face in daily life. This research aimed to enhance the scientific literacy and critical thinking abilities of students engaged in biology education through the implementation of inquiry-based and problem-based learning (PBL) models. The study employed a quasiexperimental design featuring a pre-test and post-test of non-equivalent control group design, which included a total of 84 participants of senior high schools in Bengkulu City, Indonesia. Two sets of instrument test were used in this investigation comprised assessment of scientific literacy alongside examination of critical thinking capabilities. The findings derived from this research indicated that both inquiry-based and problem-based learning models significantly improved the students’ science literacy and critical thinking in learning biology compared to the students of control class. The improvement of both science literacy and critical thinking skills of the students was significantly higher through inquiry learning than PBL.